Mid-Year Check-In: Goal Setting & Emotional Wellness

I had to do a double-take when I was flipping through my planner and realized July begins next week. Wasn’t it just May two days ago? We are halfway through 2019 and it’s about time we take a look at our New Years Resolutions we made and see how far we’ve come along. Did you make those healthy changes you promised yourself? Are you closer to wellness and joy?

I told you guys how I stick to my goals throughout the year. If you didn’t quite stay with your plan, don’t worry. It’s never to late to get back into goal-setting and make changes to improve your life.

Setting goals for the rest of the year to improve mental and emotional health

As I mentioned in my first goal-setting post, 2019 is all about personal revolution. I took full responsibility for my previous unhappiness and vowed to turn it around.

Healthy Changes I made:

Journaling every night

I can tell that my sleep has improved since I’ve started jotting down my thoughts before bed. It helps me get all my worried out of my head so that they don’t come to haunt me in my dreams

Did little things I’ve wanted to do but always convinced myself not to

I’ve considered buying a DSLR camera for a while but thought it wasn’t worth the price. As I’ve gotten clearer on what I enjoy doing and what I may want to do in my career, I decided to take the plunge (well, sort of- I lucked out and found an inexpensive set sold on Craigslist)

Began to actively pursue my dream career

In my guest post on Beauty Balance Light, I told you guys how my career path after college didn’t really go the way I thought it would. I was working for paychecks instead of working for my future. It got to a point this year where I had to stop settling and start doing work that actually fulfilled me. Now I’m happily pursuing my interests and I’m so excited to seeing where this work takes me.

Even though things are looking up right now, I know the journey to mental wellness is never over. I still fall back into harmful habits every now and then and self-doubt is always just around the corner. But this half-time show is starting and I’m ready to rock.

Healthy Changes I will make in these next 6 months:

Limit time on social media

My love-hate relationship with Instagram. At this point it’s more of a habit or a chore than it is fun. That’s why I’m going to be more intentional about when I’m scrolling my feed by setting a weekly limit for myself- I’ll only check Instagram 3 times each week.

Cut down on drinking alcohol and caffeine

Two more things I consume despite how detrimental they are to my mental health. I grew up seeing how dependent people become to their vices and I’ve worried that I’d fall under the same spell. I don’t want to be someone who needs liquor to have fun or coffee just to get out of bed in the morning. I’m not going to go cold-turkey (everything’s fine in moderation, right?) but being mindful of when I’m drinking and why will set me up for better mental and emotional clarity.

Go to the gym twice a week

Okay okay, a variation of this is in every new years resolutions list on the planet but I’m going to stick it in here. I know that I’m a happier person when I work out regularly. I know that there is nothing better for my mental health than a good sweat-sesh. But oftentimes laziness and the comfort of Netflix keeps me from hitting the gym. It’s a jab to my physical health and my wallet every time I don’t use the gym. Time to get moving again.

With half of 2019 in the rear-view, it’s time to get focused and intentional with the time we have left. What changes do you want to make? Where do you see yourself in six months?